Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4)
by Stephenie Meyer
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Book Reviews of Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4)
Book Review: Too Much Wrong to Ignore
Summary: 1 Stars
When writing the concluding book of a successful series, wouldn't you expect an author to put their best work into it in order to finish the series with a rousing explosion of drama/romance/action - whatever made the previous books so popular? Instead, Ms. Meyer presented us with Breaking Dawn (BD), which has little to do with the previous three books except characters with the same names. It's escapist reading like the first three books, but there is so much wrong with it the only way you could escape into it is if you can completely ignore inconsistency, plot holes, mischaracterization and immorality. Ms. Meyer basically ruined her own series with this book.
And if you haven't read the book yet there are
Rules are important, especially to the sci-fi/fantasy/supernatural genres. It's the rules that make it interesting, otherwise we'd all just read fiction set in the real world. But when the author is inconsistent and breaks their own rules the story becomes unbelievable. Ms. Meyer established a number of rules for her world, then when it became expedient for her story she broke them. Here's some examples:
The author established that vampires sparkle because their tissues crystallized in the conversion process. That's why male and female vampires do not change. This means NO PREGNANCY WAS POSSIBLE. In that one rule, the author eliminated vampire babies, including human/vampire hybrids. Later on she tries to justify it by saying Edward was still a virgin when he was converted, and still had junk in his trunk. Then how does she explain Joham the serial hybrid maker? By that logic after one shot he should have been done. Furthermore, even if this logic worked, the baby would NOT be a vampire/human hybrid because the stored sperm would still be HUMAN.
Newborn vampires are bloodthirsty and out of control. That concept is repeated through three books and a novella. Yet when Bella is reborn, she skips this stage entirely. Why? Because, in the author's words, "she's a really stubborn girl". This strength of mind is supposed to be enough that she can withstand the physical demands of her newborn body. But this has not been sufficiently established before BD. Where was this strength of mind when she becomes a zombie and can't remember four months of her life? Where was this strength of mind when she was scared to death of Laurent and Victoria coming to kill her? Where was this strength of mind that she can't stop thinking of the hole in her chest? There was no support or foreshadowing that it was even possible for a vampire to skip the newborn phase. "'Some vampires have no adjustment period at all,' Edward said." That's all it would have taken. Bella's 'ability' to master her newborn tendencies isn't a clever surprise, it just comes out of left field.
The vampire conversion process is the most painful experience anyone has ever experienced. But when it's Bella's turn, she's able to lay on the table silently while the fire rages inside her. This is even more blatant rule breaking because Bella has already experienced this once - at the end of Twilight - and she was definitely not laying quietly. And in both cases she was injected with morphine.
The personalities of the characters changed in BD, without warning or development. And we're not talking minor characters:
Bella - Bella goes from painfully shy and incredibly clumsy to super model vain and graceful. She hates driving the Mercedes Guardian because it attracts attention, but later she's just fine with the Ferrari? In Midnight Sun, Edward states that a vampire's human personality, likes and dislikes, get locked in at transformation. He also explains that some human traits get transferred and magnified in transformation. How then do we get this change in Bella? Shouldn't she be even more shy and so klutzy she's unable to walk?
Edward - Edward loves Bella and has certain moral standards. He values her moral standing so much that he insisted on marrying her before sex so he would not risk her soul in sin. He's also bitter rivals with Jacob for Bella's affections. Yet he offers her to Jacob to commit adultery if he could convince her to have an abortion? He wouldn't have done this because it would have jeopardized Bella's soul. And for Edward to call Jacob "my brother...my son"? Absolutely out of character.
Charlie - Charlie is a police officer, so is suspicious by profession. He's also a concerned and involved parent. Witness him disconnecting Bella's battery cables when he even suspects she's going to sneak out. Yet in BD he doesn't bat an eye at Bella's physical appearance, or the fact that she has a pre-adolescent child that looks like her. He swallows it as part of the "don't ask don't tell" program. That's not the Charlie from the previous books.
And oh my god, why did she have to turn Jacob into a pedo? The author denies it of course. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, she says "It's not like that in the beginning. It's like they'll be her brother or father figure. Then later it will change."
Well what do you call it, when the older of the pair knows that the relationship will one day be sexual, and they have a hand in the care and raising of that child? At the least it's child-grooming. How is that not just as sick and disgusting as outright pedophilia? And lastly, Jacob gives Renesmee a PROMISE BRACELET. If he truly had no future designs and only wanted her to be happy, he wouldn't have done that.
We're told that imprinting is supposed to ensure the best werewolf genes are passed on in order to create a stronger pack. First off, how is that going to be done if not sexually? Secondly, what WEREWOLF genes does Renesmee possess to pass on? According to the author's rules, Jacob should not have imprinted on Renesmee. As a plot device, there was so much wrong with this concept. And for what purpose? To negate conflict for Bella. Better to have dropped Jacob from the story completely than turn him into a pedophile. The device was fine as long as it was between older people of like age (Sam/Emily and Jared/Kim). But when it expanded to include toddlers and babies she crossed the line.
Everybody loves a happy ending and I don't object to that. It's how we got to the happy ending in this book. In the end there was no cost, no struggle. For three books, we hear all the things Bella would lose if she becomes a vampire: her family, her friends, her soul, the ability to have children. The tribe would have to kill the Cullens if they violate the treaty and bite her. Jacob will become her enemy because she's one of the bloodsuckers.
In the first three books, Bella struggled and suffered. That made it a worthwhile read. What did Bella suffer in BD? How does Bella overcome the problems in her way? Does she grow, change or sacrifice in any way that enables her to gain her resolution? Not at all. Physically she's a vampire. But she gets to keep her father, and she gets a baby that shouldn't exist. Her new family is unharmed because the pedophile imprinting negates the treaty violation. And the relationship with Jacob becomes platonic because he now has the hots for her baby. Alice comes out of nowhere to negate the remaining conflict with the Volturi by saying "These aren't the droids you're looking for." At the most Bella had an anxiety attack because she thought the Volturi were going to kill them. Ok, she did have some injuries during pregnancy, but that was easily fixed by vampire venom.
The easy arrival at the happy ending cheapens the story. Conflict being resolved or negated without the protagonist doing anything for it is not interesting. That's what I object to. It's something you expect in fan fiction, not a published work. I enjoyed the first three books, and that's why this book was such a disappointment. Heck, Bella and Edward live happily ever after, who wouldn't want that ending? It's just that in this case, it wasn't worth anything.
For me this all adds up to one great big epic failure. I will say the first 80 or so pages wasn't quite as bad but then the begging for sex began. Everything spiraled downward from there. This book is not literature, just escapist reading. But if the story is done so poorly that you can't escape into it or enjoy it, then the author has failed even at that. I suppose if you could ignore all those flaws you might be able to enjoy this. Do yourself a favor and don't bother with this book. The story ends just fine after Eclipse, with Bella and Edward together and Jacob running off into the sunset. That's good enough for a happily ever after.
Book Review: Appalling ending to an epic romance.
Summary: 1 Stars
MANY SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!
The moment the first blonde `joke' came I knew this book could not redeem itself. Stephenie Meyer's well-documented gigantic chip on her shoulder about blonde women has always irked me - I mean, the one time she has a blonde character she makes her a self-absorbed, nasty piece of work who is more like a caricature than a real person.
Right from the outset - despite my love of the story - I had some reservations about the Twilight series. And now Breaking Dawn seems to have done irreparable damage to my overall enjoyment of the story.
It also confirmed for me what I had been thinking all along: the books would have been better had they been narrated by Edward (though they would not have been able to make the same massive first impression on young girls - the money makers for this franchise).
As with films, your leading character in a book has to take some initiative and achieve some things on their own. The `Hero's Journey' rules are applied to screenwriting, and they would have done well to be applied to the Twilight series. Making Edward the primary character would have strengthened the stories.
Take Harry Potter, for example. He has plenty of friends and allies who help him along the way. But the stories are successful because always at some point Harry has to `take up the sword' and make things happen for himself.
It's the same with any saga. The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, The Matrix.
Bella fails in much of the series because she is always engulfed by the secondary characters. Twilight, for example, would have been more satisfying if she had done just one thing to help herself, instead of having her knight in shining armour always turn up at the last minute. She is practically redundant in Eclipse, really only having to worry about which boy she likes best. I accept Stephenie Meyer's explanation that - of course - Bella was no match for the vampires, but it would have been far more satisfying to occasionally do something to help herself.
In the past I could overlook this because the story was just so intoxicating. It was a `guilty pleasure' read, a wonderful romance where the girl gets swept off her feet by a gorgeous superhero (and then, for some reason, spends a bit of time in love with a schoolboy)....
Breaking Dawn was Bella's moment to shine. I understand Meyer did not want a battle at the end, and that she cited not wanting to kill off the characters. But - with Bella's newfound abilities - this could have been the moment all the books were leading up to: the moment Bella saved the day.
But no, the only shining Bella did in this book was when she was standing in the sunlight, once again thinking about her own perfection (and sex). It's like she's become Rosalie, but somehow it's okay for her to be insufferably vain because she's Bella....
And, by the way, where is the interest in keeping everybody unharmed?!?! Four books that led to what?? Everybody back where they started on page one of Twilight?!?!
Really not much has changed, and nothing has been sacrificed. That's not a good tale, that's kiddie fan fiction.
Bella's still got her human family, still got her vampires, still got the guy she's obsessed with. The only difference now is that she's going to have a lot longer to exist without changing.
The imprinting thing is just plain creepy.
So, in a few years, the Loch Ness Monster is going to look like a woman. But she'll have the mental age of a second grader. And everybody is fine with a child entering into a relationship with Jacob - essentially making him a paedophile?!?!
And speaking of the Monster, what a massive disappointment. Meyer writes her women as being obsessed with babies, so while the baby storyline was unwelcome, I found it incredibly predictable.
But - after all the flesh-ripping, bone-breaking horror of the pregnancy and birth, I had at least hoped we would get an interesting child out of it all. But no, apart from the horrendous name(s), the child is just `perfect'.
As is the rule in television, babies are great in real life, but they are the easiest and best way to kill a good story.
Charlie finding out (or not finding out) was completely unnecessary. More disturbing was how badly it was all handled. I mean, he just doesn't seem to care!! And then he goes to watch football with Emmett?!?!
The keeping of Bella's mother out of the story was just plain lazy writing.
The absence of any description of Bella and Edward's honeymoon was just strange. After all the talk, all of Edward's learning control so that they could be together, we get a fade to black?! And then another and another and another fade to black?
I would not have wanted to read pages of sex scenes, but the complete avoidance of the issue was a major miscalculation. And saying it is because it is a Young Adult novel is no excuse. Young Adult Fiction tackles sex all the time. From Judy Blume to John Marsden, Young Adult writers recognise the importance of addressing sex in their writing.
[...]
And excuse me, but it is suddenly quite okay to devote a third of a book to Bella's body literally being ripped to shreds, and yet we cannot hear about the relationship of our two main characters?!?!
[...]
After this book - between the blonde `jokes' and the references to picturing Bella naked, and the imprinting on an infant(!!!!) - Jacob can never be redeemed for me. He is my least favourite character now.
Meyer seemed to forget how young these characters are (I mean the humans). As ridiculous and disturbing as it was to have Edward trying to pimp his wife out to Jacob, it was even more ridiculous to have these teenagers standing around contemplating babies. Why would someone as young as Jacob even be thinking in this way?!
I have always had issues with feeble, weepy Bella, but she was insufferable after her transformation. People have always commented that we never saw Bella's true self because she was narrating the stories and was hyper-critical of herself. But suddenly she's a vampire, and all she can do is walk around thinking about how astoundingly beautiful and strong and elegant and great she is. She painfully vain, and extremely difficult to like.
As I said before, for all Meyer's painting of Rosalie as a vain woman, once Bella becomes a vampire she spends so much time admiring her `beautiful' reflection, or her `amazing' skills.
And if that wasn't bad enough, she's become a sex maniac!! The only time she has anything to do with her husband she's either begging him for sex, or actually having furniture-breaking sex with him (that we never actually hear about, of course). That's about the entire extent of their relationship in Breaking Dawn.
And all those erroneous characters. Oh boy. What was she thinking?! There is absolutely no point to any of them. All those confusing names and backstories and pages and pages of introductions. Why?!?! Where did the focus of the story go? Why remove wonderful characters like Alice and Jasper, just so you've got time to introduce us to ten trillion characters who are going to stand around doing absolutely nothing, and then leave??
It was like reading a child's story - they invent all these cool superheroes, and then get bored and just give up on writing any interesting adventures for them. I honestly cannot believe that the editor allowed this to stay in the text. I believe if this was Stephenie's first book they would either have insisted she cut it all out, or - more likely - they would not have a published such a messy manuscript full stop.
All this unnecessary character introduction (and all that werewolf stuff that was completely irrelevant to the heart of the Twilight story) really sank the book beyond redemption. I was BORED.
Additionally, I don't care how well-written it is, you don't write three and a third books from the perspective of one character, and then suddenly switch to someone else for no particular reason. We get to the most significant time in Bella's life, and what do we do? We leave her head and enter the mind of a character who really had no reason whatsoever to be there through the pregnancy, birth and transformation.
It was just another thing that contributed to the messiness of the final book.
As I said, I am a fan of the original story, but I am having a huge time coming to terms with the disturbing and just plain bizarre direction the Twilight books have gone in. From Romeo and Juliet to mutant vampire babies ripping our Juliet's body to shreds. I'm just so utterly amazed that an author could so completely lose the plot - seriously, just, WOW....
Book Review: I want my money (and my time) back!
Summary: 1 Stars
I've spent the last few days struggling to get through this unwieldy tome, only able to read for short periods at a time before my mind clouded over from sheer boredom. I was looking forward to writing this review, but now that I've finished the book and the time has actually come, all I can feel is overwhelmed. There is just so much that is wrong. I'm almost tempted to keep my review to a couple of terse sentences. But I'll write the full version, too; if I can make it through 700-plus pages of literary torture, I'm sure I can write a half-decent review.
First, the short version:
Breaking Dawn is awful. Don't buy it.
And now, the long version:
*** SPOILERS AHEAD - READ AT YOUR OWN RISK ***
First of all, it seems silly to be warning of spoilers for a book where nothing actually happens. Someone needs to buy Stephenie Meyer a good book on writing that explains how to construct a plot... and a climax (more on that later). But a few of some of my bigger complaints have little to do with the way the book was structured and written, and everything to do with the message behind the words.
I'm pretty open-minded in my views, but I can not honestly condone any of the messages that Meyer puts forth in Breaking Dawn (and, to a lesser extent, the rest of the series). If I had teenage girls who wanted to read this, I would make a concerted effort to dissuade them. Meyer seems to have forgotten who her audience is. So what's so bad with the messages in the book? Where do I start?
1. Bella gets herself pregnant. Despite the fact that she's only eighteen and that the fetus is killing her from the inside out, she stubbornly and selfishly insists on carrying the baby to term. She survives... but a real teenage girl with a high-risk pregnancy might not. Bella and the baby could have died, and she would have destroyed everyone who loved her. If she really believed she was going to be an immortal and live forever, the threat of eternal hell for having an abortion shouldn't have been an issue.
As if the teenage pregnancy isn't bad enough, Bella also has the most unrealistic baby imaginable. I even caught myself thinking that maybe having a baby wouldn't be so hard. And that's what I find alarming. I'm a grown adult and the book influenced me (momentarily) that way. What are impulsive teenagers going to take from it? Bella's experience was not normal at all; she didn't have to deal with any of the negative aspects of babies. There were no diapers, no 2 AM feedings, no temper tantrums, no post-partum depression. Bella didn't even have to think about supporting the child because her husband is rich. How many real seventeen-year-old husbands can you say that about?
And the way in which Bella was able to get pregnant doesn't even make sense. Vampires don't eat, don't go to the bathroom, don't sweat, don't grow hair... and yet they can somehow produce sperm from their stone testicles. Does Meyer need an anatomy textbook as well as a writing manual? (I'm all for fantasy, but it has to be plausible.)
One final thought about the baby. Eighteen-year-old girls should not be allowed to name their children, because they come up with stupid names like "Renesmee". The kid's lucky she wasn't named after Edward's biological mother instead of his adoptive one. Then she would have been "Renizabeth". To be perfectly honest, though, I don't think that sounds any dumber.
2. Too much is made of physical perfection. From what I can see, the only reason that Edward is attracted to Bella is because of her looks, because she's certainly not interesting. She has no hobbies (except sex), and she even turns her nose up at admission to a prestigious university. Eternity is going to get old very fast. But, apparently, Edward doesn't seem to mind because Meyer makes it seem like a guy who can speak half a dozen languages, write music, play the piano, and otherwise improve his mind is going to be satisfied with a dullard like Bella... just as long as he can gaze at her beauty for all eternity. Bella, for her part, seems to know what a dud she is; we hear about her low self-esteem endlessly. And yet, she gets the guy anyway. What kind of message does that send to young women? Physical beauty is all that matters? That's certainly what I took from it (thank goodness I'm old enough to know better).
3. These vampires are the environment's worst nightmare. If you're going to be around for centuries, casting aside clothes after one use, driving gas-guzzling sports cars, and taking down large game just to drain the blood... well, you're going to be using up a lot of resources. For creatures who are going to live forever, you'd think they would have a little more foresight. Or maybe I just wanted to see vampires driving a fleet of little electric cars.
4. And speaking of cars, portraying Bella's child sitting on people's laps in cars is completely irresponsible. I don't care if she's invincible. It doesn't send a good message (Britney Spears, anyone?). Besides... if Bella ever got pulled over, wouldn't it be less conspicuous if her child was buckled in safely?
There were plenty of other things I didn't like, either. Edward's assertion that humans smelled more like carnivores than herbivores was most likely wrong (unless Meyer is assuming that all humans eat as many animal products as Bella did. Honestly, food other than eggs or meat barely crossed her lips. I can't see why she'd smell that good to Edward. With a diet like that, she should have smelled like rotting meat).
I hated the switch in point of view right in the middle of the book. The descriptions of the wolves patrolling the forest were extremely boring. It almost seemed like a day-by-day account, and nothing was really happening. The switch was also confusing. We're told in that section how other people see Bella. But it's not consistent with what came before and it was as if we were seeing an entirely different character.
Oh, and I can't forget the whole imprinting thing. Why are all these adult wolves imprinting on toddlers? Talk about pedophilic. I don't care that they keep insisting that they have no control over it. There is one person who does have control over it, and that's the author. It would have been weird enough if it had just happened once. But twice? I couldn't get past the feeling that these were pedophiles who were grooming their little victims until they were old enough to actually do something with. For a while, I thought that Jacob might imprint on Leah (or at least on another grown-up). But that would have been inconvenient for Meyer.
Convenience. That's what this book boils down to, and that's what ultimately makes it fail. Isn't it convenient that Bella (who has no other talents to speak of) possesses the talent that can save them all? Isn't it convenient that, when she finally becomes a vampire, she can restrain herself from killing humans? Isn't it convenient that the point of view shifted in the middle of the book to Jacob's point of view? Isn't it convenient that Alice showed up at the last minute with the one person who might give the Volturi pause? Ohh... don't even get me started on the Volturi.
I alluded earlier to the fact that this book has a weak plot and climax. I'll correct that statement. It has NO CLIMAX. The Volturi showed up and, aside from barbequing an inconsequential secondary character with a fancy cigarette lighter (or whatever it was), nothing happened. Nothing. They talked their way out of the predicament and left. While that may be the ideal situation to conflict in real life, in literature it just makes for boring reading. The promise of the foreshadowing is shot, and the reader just ends up frustrated. The Volturi had so much potential as villains, and that potential was completely underutilized. The high point of the story actually came much earlier, when Bella gave birth. By that time, though, I was so frustrated with endless descriptions of wolf patrols and Bella's martyrdom that I just wanted the baby to kill her and Edward to fail. That would have at least been interesting... and I could have saved myself the hours I spent reading the last half of the novel.
In short, this was a book that appears to glorify teenage marriage and parenthood, encourage disrespect for the environment and resources, and condone pedophilic tendencies... all while nothing actually happens. Bella got everything without having to sacrifice anything, and everyone lived happily forever after. If you must read Breaking Dawn, get it from the library. It irks me no end that my dollars have gone to encourage this sort of garbage to be written.
Book Review: *BLAM*
Summary: 1 Stars
Now, just to be clear, I actually thought the first book in this series was pretty cute. I didn't think Anne Rice had anything to worry about, but I still acknowledged it was a sweet, endearing little fantasy. I understood neither hatred or adoration. I just thought the book was...nice. The next two were starting to overstay their welcome, in my view, introducing themes I wasn't terribly comfortable with as well, but I still slogged on, determined to see it through and have an opinion one way or another on the newest cultural phenomenon.
But this...this just crashed and burned. Breaking Dawn, as far as I am concerned, is a failure on every level. It fails casual readers, it fails literature as a whole, but perhaps its worst crime is that it also fails its fans, the people who devoted so much energy to making this series what it has become.
At the start of this absolute catastrophe of a novel, Bella Swann is finally (FINALLY) marrying Edward Cullen. All things proceed as might be expected, and the newlyweds jet off to a honeymoon in somewhere only super-rich vampires like Mr. Cullen can possibly afford, in addition to his cars and awesome house (way to be a philanthropist, Ed). Bella and Edward there engage in the typical matrimonial bliss, now that they're safely married and Meyer's tedious abstinence preaching can be finally set aside. Everything is actually going okay up to this point, for all that it feels a bit like a coda to Eclipse that didn't quite make it into the final cut.
Then everything really falls apart.
It's difficult for me to adequately discuss the true impossible awfulness of this novel without a few spoilers, so be warned, some follow.
Bella gets knocked up. With a creepy vampire love-child. Linda Blair + Every Idealized and Uninteresting Little Angel Ever = Renesmee Cullen (and yes, that name is thoroughly as stupid even after seeing it a thousand times).
My explanation? Meyer really couldn't think of anywhere to go. The series, like most vampire stories, is basically an expression of feminine fantasizing, sexual and otherwise (albeit in this case with some moralizing thrown in). But Bella's basically GOT Edward now. He's her husband, the deed's done, and Meyer's suspense just made a gurgling noise as it went down the toilet. Team Jacob vs. Team Edward? Gone. Edward possibly vanishing? Gone. They're together forever, the perfect princess story. Cinderella has married Prince Charming, and they ride off together in his chariot, into the glorious sunset. Meyer's problem is that she has to figure out what to do next, now that Bella and Edward are actually wedded and bedded. She has two options: complicate their relationship (and thus their characters), or introduce some new element. This being Meyer, it's basically a no-brainer.
So, we proceed to Phase II of little-girl fantasy: having the CUTEST BABY EVERRRRRR!!!! Unfortunately, this destroys everything. Meyer's fantasy has always been a simple enough story. The action centers around the star-crossed lovers: everything else is a force either bringing them together or driving them apart. Now, however, Meyer dumps it, dumps what legions of readers fell in love with, and starts talking about Blair Baby. A LOT.
Edward, naturally, gets marginalized. If he transitions into Super-Dad, then that would take time away from spending all his time in (mostly mute) adoration of Bella, which would be too much complexity for him to manage, most likely. So Meyer goes with the alternative, just...leaving him out for the most part. Oh, don't get me wrong, he's always THERE, always hovering aimlessly around in the wings, but where's the mysterious, intriguing vampire lad from the first three? Where's his undying devotion and dramatic commitment? Who, pray, is this new fellow who just sort of stands around either whining or grinning like an idiot? Edward plays, once the baby enters the picture, like Bella's faithful Beagle: he lounges around, barks prettily on command, and is always available when Bella needs fluffy comfort. But Edward has no drive anymore, no apparent reason to exist. He's pointless, a part of the scenery.
Of course, that's nothing to how poor JACOB gets screwed over.
I admit, I was never a big Jacob fan. I never really had a "team", per se (I understand that, having a Y chromosome, that's pretty much beyond me anyway), but if I had to affiliate one way or t'other, I'd probably end up on Team Ed. I always knew he was going to win anyway, so I didn't see the point in supporting Captain Buff. But even I was appalled at how Meyer destroys everything that made Jacob likable. And so FAST.
It happens in two quick strokes. First, Jacob's given his own point of view chapters. BAAAD idea (mostly b/c Meyer isn't practiced at multi-character narrative and Jacob basically reads like Bella with painfully cheesy "guy jokes" thrown in). THEN...yeah. Superbaby comes along. And in that instant, all of Jacob's doomed love for Bella, all of his faithfulness...it all gets blown apart, because actually, the WHOLE TIME, he was in love with the DAMN BABY.
Having now successfully annihilated anything interesting at all about her two male leads, Meyer blunders ahead with giving Bella the same treatment. Part of Bella's limited interest has always been the possibility of her becoming a vamp, and undergoing all of the dramatic changes associated with such. THAT'LL bring about some character shifts, by golly! Or...so we thought.
Instead, Bella somehow gets to be improbably immune to newbie-vamp nuttiness, all so that Meyer can hastily move past anything interesting associated with Bella's BEING a vampire, and get back to business as usual.
(As a minor note here...Bella getting powerful. Does it strike anyone else as deeply wrong that the ONLY POWER the female lead EVER gets in this series of being endlessly rescued by Alpha males...is given to her BY HER HUSBAND after she's successfully provided him with an heir? Not to say Meyer intended it, but still...in conjunction with Bella always being a disturbingly powerless, anti-feminist little damsel in distress ANYWAY, this comes off as a little disturbing, to me at least. Oh well, moving on...)
There's one last ish, of course, because Meyer has to go out with a bang. The Volturi get the idea that Evil Baby is...oh, do we really care at this point? Anyway, for a few breathless moments, it looks like Meyer is actually going to DO something with her series. Bella and Edward's love MEANT something, because it brings about a battle between good vamps and bad vamps. The Volturi shall be overthrown, and the victorious Cullens shall usher in a new era of human-vampire cooperation. There shall be new Edwards and Bellas, new loves. They shall become the Adam and Eve of a generation of change and cooperation between the two races. There was actually a POINT to it all. Hallelujah!
It looks like she's going to do it, too. Meyer gets us RIGHT THERE, so close we can almost TASTE the triumphant ending. Armies lined up, generals stalking out to spit terms at each other. Two conflicting views of vampirisim coming into dramatic and terrible conflict, with the fate of the world and two races of intelligent life at stake.
Then Bella whips out the damn, damn, damn BABY. And it's one more "Ain't my baby just the cuuuutest in da whole wide WORLD?!?" And, as we sit there staring in stunned, horrified disbelief, the Volturi agree that the Blair Baby is indeed the cutest in da whole wide world, say "oops, our bad, sorreh", and pack right back off to Italy to supervise murder of humankind for the next zillion years.
But who cares, right, as long as Bella gets to be rich and pretty and have her trophy husband? And let's not forget DA CUTEST BABY EVER!
God, could you get any more shallow with an ending? Meyer not only denied the greater possibilities in her own narrative, she didn't even realize they were there. I should have seen this coming, but somehow I didn't. I hoped she would have something, ANYTHING, redeeming at the end of this long, interminable slog of a book. Something that would make all my suffering worthwhile.
But ya know what? I guess I have to accept that sometimes, disasters just do happen, and there is no silver lining. Breaking Dawn is such a disaster, a purest expression of everything that is shallow, pointless, and insipid in an untalented writer tragically out of her depth.
If you can possibly avoid this ending, do it. It is not worth the paper it is printed on.
Book Review: No Disappointment Whatsoever! A Positive Review.
Summary: 4 Stars
I am not a teenager and am past the "young adult" stage, so I was never really drawn to the Twilight series, until recently that is. I saw the first film a couple of years ago without ever getting near the books, and I was not impressed. It was poorly done, with a weak story and OK acting. Couldn't understand what the fuss was about. Then I saw the second movie, became slightly interested when the acting got better and then received the book set as a Christmas gift and decided to give it a try.
Curious like any other new reader, I went to Amazon to read reviews on "Breaking Dawn" and was appalled at how much negative feedback there was. I thought "oh, great" and dreaded ever finishing the first three books because I would eventually get to this. Finally, "Eclipse" was out of the way, so I just decided to get the horror over with. To my surprise, it was not horrible or repulsive in any way or form, with the exception of one part that made me cringe (see below), and I ended up enjoying it.
I will try to stay away from the negativity but be objective in this review. It's easy to dismiss this book after all the hatred, so I want to provide some helpful alternatives to viewing it with a more open mind.
Stephanie Meyer is not the best writer-far from it, in fact. Her writing is at times choppy, repetitive and uncreative. As an aspiring writer, I could see many flaws in her literary structure that I myself would have avoided, but that's beside the point. With the first three books, the writing would get so sloppy that it was hard to continue to stay engaged in the story. I could not read more than two chapters at a time. With "Breaking Dawn", that was not the case.
(Spoiler alert): The first seven chapters (aka Bella's Book) were a breeze for me. The writing seemed to have improved dramatically, and for the first time, I was not bored reading them. Though Meyer still has a long way to go, this was a better effort. The wedding, in my opinion, was very tastefully done, not too long, not too short. Certain parts stood out to me: Bella walking down the stairs with Charlie "holding on", Bella seeing Edward and feeling confident about her decision, the dance, etc; they were delicately done, as were the scenes leading up to their departure. Some readers complained that there was little description of what Bella looked like as a bride, but I had not trouble imagining her based on the dress illustrated in "Eclipse" and the way the rest of her was done when Alice and Rosalie were getting her ready. Another scene that stood out to me was during the honeymoon when Edward was waiting for Bella in the water, and she was nervous about coming out to meet him, until she acknowledged their level of commitment as the only justification to that kind of intimacy. VERY nicely done. In fact, looking back, this was the first time that I actually liked Bella and saw her as a kinder, more loving character as opposed to before. Not whiny, not annoying, as others described.
I already expected the pregnancy bit, so that did not take me off guard. And I did not think it was unusual for her to accept the idea either. Many women have never seen themselves having kids, were repulsed by the very idea of it, but once they actually became mothers, their whole outlook on the subject changed. They had something else to live for, and the love was unconditional. Not too far fetched there. I agree that Bella is too young for this, but because the whole series is based on the concept of her becoming immortal, age and time seemed unimportant. Overall, up until the end of that first section, everything seemed to be in place, and I smoothly breezed through the chapters.
The second book, written from Jacob's point of view, was a let-down for me in "Breaking Dawn". It felt unnatural, weak and awkward. The characters DID seem like they were not themselves (OOC), but I realize now that because we have always known them as Bella sees them, they have been glorified, and now, seeing them as Jacob sees them, just felt wrong. I am not sure if Meyer intended them to be different, but that's how it came off, and I wish she would have just stayed with Bella's point of view. The worst part of all, the "cringer" for me, was when Edward was willing to give Bella to Jacob if it would make her happy. "Sharing" her! Completely uncalled for and unnecessary. I guess Meyer's justification was that Edward lost his mind beyong all reason and would never have suggested such a thing under different circumstances, but this is one part that I am repulsed by and will not defend.
The rest of the pregnancy was painful to read, especially with the baby being portrayed as a monster, Bella being physically abused by it, and the family on a verge of a breakdown. Surprisingly, I had read some reviews elsewhere about Edward ripping the baby out of the uterus, so I was expecting a gory, disgusting, detailed depiction. It was not that at all, with Jacob only mentioning Edward positioning his teeth against her belly. The regurgitation of the blood was unpleasant, but that was it. Most of it was about the spread of the venom through Bella's body. I expected much worse after reading the horror stories online.
Once Bella came back (in more than one way), the book returned to each original form for me. I was actually pleased that Meyer made her into a tolerant, mature vampire as opposed to a blood-thirsty newborn. I know that many people complain about this, her perfection and the ease with which she transformed, but I would have done the same thing had I written this. My reasoning is that Bella has always been plain, akward and uninteresting, an implication that human life was not the way for her, and that she was not living up to her full potential. Being immortal helped her achieve this. Also, because Bella had WANTED to be a vampire, embraced it and mentally prepared herself, the result was bound to be different. All other newborns were changed under different circumstances and did not know what to expect; they neither considered vampires as their family while in human form, nor did they sacrifice their human existence to give life to one.
Now comes the part about the imprinting. The taboo, so to speak. The word sounds perverted, sexual and has the wrong connotation. I wish Meyer would have gone with something else. But in reality, the concept is nothing more than destiny between soul mates. No matter the age or gender, the connection is there, simple as that, and once it's made, it can not be broken. Of course, in our society, even the purest form of love or care can be misinterpreted and taken out of context. Michael Jackson, anyone? Nowhere did I see any implication that Jacob or Quil had pediphillic tendencies. If I felt like there was, I would have regarded Meyer's mind as being sick and twisted. But I feel like a lot of people are looking for something that isn't there. And as far as Renesmee goes: she might have been portrayed as a monster at first, but once she was born, she was depicted as a beautiful, highly intelligent and loving little girl. Nowhere did I read that she was this evil, disgusting creature that needs to be distroyed.
As far as the Volturi fight goes, yes, this was a letdown, but the fact that Meyer choose an alternative to violence wasn't the worst crime. It would have been more thrilling and fascinating to finally have that long-awaited confrontation, but it didn't happen. But Bella turned the game around in her favor without lifting a finger. Oh well.
Lastly, the complaints that no sacrifices were made. How is that possible? Throughout the whole series, there had been nothing BUT sacrifices. The unorthodox, forbidden relationship between a human and a vampire, the treaty with the wolves, the choice of giving up humanity, a love triangle, the tracking, etc, etc, etc. With everything that the main characters have endured since book 1, there should not be any reason why they should not be happy in the end. In this book alone, Bella's pregnancy and fight to save Renesmee while risking the lives of her family upon the treaty's end is enough reason for a happy end. Forget everything else...
These are some of the main views that I have on this book. I understand that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but there is so much hatred out there, that it is easy to become biased toward "Breaking Dawn" about things that are blown out of proportion. For those of you who are deciding whether to read this book, give it a try. If you keep an open mind and don't stray toward the negative, you might realize that it's worth reading.